Liam Lawson maintains he is not thinking about the speculation linking Nikola Tsolov to his Racing Bulls seat, arguing he has been in F1 "long enough to see how things get stirred up" in the paddock.
The New Zealander is enjoying a strong start to the season, and sits tenth in the F1 drivers' standings on 39 points after nine rounds.
For reference, that is six points more than Yuki Tsunoda's best campaign, although the VCARB 03 is proving to be as competitive, if not more, than the Faenza-based team's 2025 challenger, and reliability at the start of the new era of F1 is low, relatively speaking.
But Lawson's performances have pulled Racing Bulls to within one point of Alpine in the fight for fifth in the constructors' championship nonetheless, and the 24-year-old is on an impressive run of five points-scoring finishes in a row.
The trouble, however, is that Red Bull junior driver Tsolov is in imperious form and tops the F2 drivers' standings.
The Bulgarian is on a run of three consecutive victories, having done the sprint-feature race double at Silverstone. The teenager is the first driver to go back-to-back-to-back in the series since Davide Valsecchi in 2012.
But even before that, there were numerous — albeit unfounded — reports that Tsolov had already been given the nod for 2027, although Lawson is paying little attention to that.
"It's honestly not even something I've really thought about," the Racing Bulls driver told media, including RacingNews365.
"Obviously, the summer break's normally a time when things are heavily considered, and we have a few more races until then.
"So, at the moment, I'm just focused on continuing to do what we've been doing.
"It's been working very well recently, and it'd be nice to go into that summer break with another good couple of races, but I think with Formula 1, I haven't been here that long, but I've been here long enough to see how things get stirred up, and it's not really something I've been thinking about."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Nick Golding and Samuel Coop as they look back on last weekend's British Grand Prix! They discuss whether the title fight has been blown wide open, if Ferrari is a genuine contender and Max Verstappen's major criticism of the RB22.
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!